Link Baiting, Good, Bad or Just Ugly
by Warren
(NY)
If you have noticed lately, the webs has received a lot of criticisms, mainly for some of the shadowy practices found in certain parts. Once such practice is called link baiting. Link baiting is a somewhat controversial practice/SEO trick that involves the creation of content that is so startling that people naturally link back to it from their blogs.
It is called link baiting because all you are really doing is creating content that will draw links back to it (because it is controversial or surprising) like flies to a rotten apple.
Some people say link baiting is grey hat SEO, some say it is black hat SEO. Whether it is for you or not, read on, decide for yourself.
Surprisingly enough, informational link baiting has become quite popular. Although it does require some effort, this type of link baiting draws a nice, healthy amount of traffic to your business and or service. It also provides an added benefit by helping to establish your reputation as an expert. As long as you a creating good content, people will want to create links to your information.
Entertainment related link baiting is quite popular as well. Online quizzes are an excellent source of baiting. They are usually posted on blogs and geared towards focusing your visitors on services. Once your visitors are there for the entertainment, there is a good chance that they will hang around for the sales pitch.
The most important thing to understand with regards to link baiting is that there are both good and bad ways of approaching it. Although some of the comments that you find on the internet with regard to link baiting is negative, you also have to remember that there is a reason for it. One of the most popular strategies when it comes to link baiting involves posting something negative about something or someone famous. This does several things. It pulls everyone into the controversy, both those that support a point of view and those that strongly disagree. This form of link baiting is the most counterproductive and the reason why there are so many negative views of it.
Whether link baiting can be used as a useful tool or not is for you to decide. Many don’t see anything wrong with it, if used properly. It is theses very same people that will classify it as a white hat SEO tool. The real problem, as is with most things in life, is that because it can be so effectively, people tend to abuse the strategy.
So, if you decide that link baiting is for you, please remember to be responsible.
